(Thursday, August 16,2001) - HRM District 6 Councillor Brian Warshick has called upon the Nova Scotia Minister of Education, Jane Purves, to step in and intervene in the current school closing crisis.
Councillor Warshick stated, "Based on the recent ruling by Justice John Davison that School Board members have to attend public meetings before voting on an issue, the Minister should declare the whole process invalid for this year".
Councillor Warshick goes on to say "In the case of Mary Lawson School, if I am not mistaken, there were a number of School Board members who were not present the night parents made their presentations. This contravenes the Justice's ruling".
The Councillor said other arguments could also come into play. "Under the Education Act, in the section dealing with school closures, it clearly states that the vote by school boards must be made by the 15th of April and cannot be changed or extended, even by the Minister. Allowing that the 15th was a federal holiday, the vote should have been held within 24 hours after the deadline, yet it was not held until the night of the 17th. Clearly, the Board violated the terms of the Act".
"However," Councillor Warshick stated, " perhaps the biggest travesty and another reason the Minister should act upon this request, has to do with the parents of Admiral Westphal Junior High. Nowhere in this process were they ever informed of what was going on, consulted or asked for any input whatsoever. In the end, their school was closed as a Junior High, their children split up and sent to two other Junior Highs in the community and many now have to be bussed to school. Students were also told that most of their teachers would follow along with them but in fact the opposite has happened and many of the former teachers have been transferred elsewhere in the system. The Admiral Westphal situation has made those families the biggest losers in this whole process."
The Councillor continued," School Board lawyer, John MacPherson, was quoted in the newspapers last month as insisting that "" Notice was given to the community about the scheduled shut-downs . This process was well-known by the people who were impacted by it"." The Councillor says he challenges the School Board and their lawyer to prove that proper notice was given to Admiral Westphal and; if so, he asks," why was there not a separate hearing held" ?
Councillor Warshick concluded, "With over 1000 Dartmouth area families affected by school closures, it's time the Minister stepped in by making a strong commitment to these parents and declaring the process null and void"!
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Contact:
Councillor Brian Warshick
District 6 (Westphal/Waverley Road)
(902)488-3800
